Hydraulic elevator descent control valve



Jan. 5, 1954 A. M. CONLEY v HYDRAULIC ELEVATOR DESCENT CONTROL VALVE Filed Aug. 20, 1951 dNVENTOR. 4/. w/v M o/wm flow 66 x By ATTORNEYS.

Patented Jan. 5, 1954 OFFICE HYDRAULIC ELEVATOR DESCENT' CONTROL VALVE Alvin M.. Conley, Los Angeles, Calif.

Application August 20, 1951', Serial No. 242,689

6. Claims. 1. invention relates to hydraulic elevator descent. control valves, that is, to solenoid control valves designed to regulate the downtravel of hydraulic elevators.

Included. in the objects of: my invention are:

First, to provide a control valve of this class wherein the rate at which the valve opens and closes may be readily adjusted and whereby when the valve is incorporated in a hydraulic elevator control system, the starting and stopping periods during descent of the elevator may be so adjusted as to: avoid. undue acceleration or deceleration, yet p rmitting an. adequate top speed of descent.

Second, to provide an elevator descent control valve wherein a relatively small, simple solenoid armature..- controls.v a bypass port to; effect op nin and closing of the main flow line..

Third. to provide an elevator-descent control valve which. is not appreciably afiectedv by the change in load carried by the elevator.

Fourth, to provide; an. elevator descent control valve which lends itself to control systems: where- 'in a large and a small capacity control valve may scent without altering the starting or .stopping characteristics of the valve and eliminate ing entirely a separate valve for the purpose;v

With the above. and other objects in view as may appear hereinafter, reference is directed to the. accompanying drawing in which:

Iiigure. 1 is a longitudinal: sectional view of my hydraulic. elevator descent control valve taken through l-l of Figure 2 and showingthe solenoid unit. in place. I

' Figure. 2 is a sectional view thereof through 2'-.--2 of Figure. 1 with the solenoidunit omitted.

Figure 3' is a fragmentary sectional view through 3-4 of Figure. 1 showing the. throttle valve for controlling the opening and closing characteristics of the valve.

Figure 4' is a diagrammatical view illustratin the manner in which my valve. may be. incorporated in an elevator control system.

My control valve includes a valve i. The

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2: valve body is provided with a lateral opening which receives an outlet fitting 2 having an outlet port 3- therein. Formed at the valve body in coaxial relation with the outlet port is a valve cylinder 4. A chamber 5 partially surrounds the valve cylinder and includes a portion interposed between the outlet port 3' and the cylinder 4. The chamber 5 communicates with an inlet port 6 which, in a construction shown, extends downwardly, but may, for convenience, be otherwise located.

The outlet port 3 is provided with a valve seat 1 facing toward the valve cylinder 4. The area of the valveseat 1 is smaller than the area of the valve cylinder. The valve cylinder receives a valve plunger 8 and a sealed ring 9- for sliding fit in the valve cylinder. The valve plunger is provided with a valve seat II] which engages the valve seat I. The valve seat; [0 may be held in place by a. pintle sleeve H" which fits slideably in the outlet post 3'. The pintle sleeve is notched in such a manner as to form, with the outlet, orifices which gradually increase in efi'ective area as the valve is open.

A spring i2 extends between the plunger 8 and the inner end of the cylinder 4. The spring is preferably just sufficient to overcome the friction of the valve plunger and hold the valve seats 1 and H! in mutual engagement. The wait of the valve body I I at the inner end of the valve cylinder" 4" is provided with an externally accessible stop screw [3 which may be adjustedto regulate the maximum open position of the valve plunger. The stop screw may be provided with a seal ring ML The. upper end of the valve body is provided with a screw threaded cavity i5 which receives sealed guide socket member I 6 A solenoid H surrounds the. guide member and an armature I8 is sl'i'dabl-y mounted in the guide member. The armature is provided with as depending valve tip ill The valve tip is of the armature engages valve seat member 20 provided: at. the bottom of the cavity $15.. I

A, passage 21. communicates between the underside of the valve seat member 26 andtheoutport 3,. beyond the pintlesleeve H, the passage extending. from the valve body i into the -eutlet. fitting; 2 and intersecting a radial passage therein. A bypass. 2.! extends: between the radial passage 22 and the cavity [5 above the valve seat; member 2a. The radial passage 22'- is provided between passages 21 and 23 with a valve seat controlled by an. externally accessible, manually operated; needle valve 2.4. As shown in Figure 3, the cavity I communicates by a bypass passage 25 with the chamber 5 and, therefore, with the inlet port 6. This passage is preferably provided with a constriction 26. The cavity l5 also communicates with the valve cylinder 4 through a bleeder passage 21. The bleeder passage 21 is intersected by a bore which receives a cylindrical throttle valve 28 having a transverse port 29.

My hydraulic elevator descent control valve is adapted to be installed in an elevator system such as shown diagrammatically in Figure 4. In such a system, a pump P delivers liquid, either water or oil, from a surge tank T to an elevator ram R to eflect ascent of an elevator. If the pump be a positive displacement type, a momentary acting bypass valve V is provided to ease starting loads. This valve is the subject of a separate invention.

Two of my descent control valves may be em- :ployed. A main valve A of a relatively large capacity is connected across the pump P with its inlet communicating with the ram R and its outlet side communicating with the surge tank T. A secondary valve B of smaller capacity is similarly connected between the ram and the surge tank. Except for their capacities, valves A and B are identical in their construction. They may be electrically connected by means (not shown) to the elevator control system so that the main valve A or both valves may operate as the elevator approaches a floor. Then as the elevator moves closer to floor level, the main valve may close so that the auxiliary valve may inch the elevator into position.

Either valve operates as follows: When the solenoid is deenergized, the passageway, comprising the passages 2| and 25, between the inlet and outlet sides of the valve, is closed. The bleeder passage or branch passage 2'1 is in communication with the inlet port. Consequently, the valve cylinder 4 is subjected to the high pressure fluid existing at the inlet side of the valve body. Inasmuch as the area of the valve cy1in der is greater than the diiferential area between the outlet port and the valve cylinder, the valve plunger is held in its closed position.

When the solenoid unit is operated, the fluid may bleed from the valve cylinder 4 to the outlet side of the valve, reducing the pressure in the valve cylinder so that the pressure existing in the inlet side of the valve may be applied to the differential area between the outlet port and the valve cylinder to urge the valve toward its open position. It will be noted that the constriction 26 insures the necessary pressure drop even though flow occurs through the bypass from the inlet to the outlet side of the valve.

The rate at which the valve opens is dependent upon the setting of the throttle valve 28. When the solenoid is again deenergized to close the by "pass, the pressure existing in the inlet side of mum descent speed .of the elevator.

It is desirable, particularly during service 01 an elevator system or in the event of power failure, to be able to operate the control valve manually. This is accomplished by the needle valve 24 which, when opened, enables the descent control valve to be manually operated. Normally, the needle valve 24 is in its closed position.

Having fully described my invention, it is to be understood that I do not wish to be limited to the details herein set forth, but my invention is of the full scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A valve for controlling the descent of hydraulic elevators, comprising: a valve body with said outlet, an inlet communicating between said valve cylinder and said outlet, a bypass communicating between said inlet and outlet and having a branch communicating with said valve cylinder; remotely actuated valve means controlling said bypass to bleed fluid simultaneously from said inlet and said valve cylinder; a throttle valve in said valve cylinder branch 01! said bypass to regulate flow of fluid into and out of said valve cylinder, and a valve plunger slideable in said valve cylinder and adapted to close said outlet.

2. A valve for controlling the descent of hydraulic elevators, comprising: a valve body defining an outlet, a valve cylinder in alignment with said outlet, an inlet communicating between said valve cylinder and said outlet, a bypass communicating between said inlet and outlet and having a branch communicating with said valve cylinder; a valve seat at said outlet confronting said valve cylinder and of lesser area than said valve cylinder; a valve plunger slideable in said valve cylinder and having a face engageable with said valve seat; remotely controlled valve means in said bypass to permit bleeding of fluid from said valve cylinder; and a throttle valve to regulate flow to and from said valve cylinder thereby to predetermine the rate of movement of said valve plunger during both the opening and closing cycles.

3. A valve for controlling the descent of hydraulic elevators, comprising: a valve body defining an outlet, a valve cylinder in alignment with said outlet, an inlet communicating between said valve cylinder and said outlet, a bypass communicating between said inlet and outlet and having a branch communicating with said valve cylinder; a valve seat at said outlet confronting said valve cylinder and of lesser area than said valve cylinder; a valve plunger slideable in said valve cylinder and having a face engageable with said valve seat; a solenoid actuated valve means in saidbypass to permit bleeding of fluid from said valve cylinder; a throttle valve to regulate flow to and from said valve cylinder thereby to predetermine the rate of movement of said valve "plunger; and a manual valve in parallel with said solenoid actuated valve to permit manual control of said valve.

4. A valve for controlling the descent of hydraulic elevators, comprising: a valve body defining an outlet, a valve cylinder in alignment with said outlet, an inlet communicating between said valve cylinder and said outlet, a bypass communicating between said inlet and outlet and having a branch communicating with said valve cylinder; a valve seat at said outlet confronting said valve cylinder and of lesser area than said valve cylinder; a valve plunger slideable in said valve cylinder and having a face engageablewith said valve seat; remotely controlled valve means in said bypass to permit bleeding of fluid from said valve cylinder; a throttle valve to regulate flow to and from said valve cylinder thereby to predetermine the rate of movement of said valve plunger; and an externally accessible adjustable stop for adjusting the travel of said valve plunger.

5. A control valve, involving: a valve body structure defining a right angularly related inlet and outlet, a valve cylinder coaxial with said outlet, the area of said outlet being less than the area of said cylinder, a chamber between said outlet and valve cylinder communicating with said inlet; said body structure also defining a bypass between said inlet and outlet including a branch communicating with said valve cylinder; remotely controlled valve means for said bypass to divert fluid into or bleed fluid from said valve cylinder; a throttle valve to regulate the rate of flow into and out of said valve cylinder; a valve plunger slideable in said valve cylinder and arranged to close said outlet; and an adjustable stop means protruding from said valve cylinder for regulating the maximum open position of said valve plunger.

6. A control valve, involving: a valve body structure defining a right angularly related inlet and outlet, a valve cylinder coaxial with said outlet, the area of said outlet being less than the area of said cylinder, a chamber between said outlet and valve cylinder communicating with said inlet; said body structure also defining a bypass between said inlet and outlet including a branch communicating with said valve cylinder; a solenoid actuated valve means for said bypass to divert fluid into or bleed from said valve cylinder; a throttle valve to regulate the rate of flow into and out of said valve cylinder; a valve plunger slideable in said valve cylinder and arranged to close said outlet; an adjustable stop means protruding from said valve cylinder for regulating the maximum open position of said valve plunger, and a manually operated valve in parallel with said solenoid valve for manually controlling operation of said valve cylinder, irrespective of said remotely controlled valve means.

ALVIN M. CONLEY,

References Cited in the file Of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 687,247 Marrder Nov. 26, 1901 1,114,431 Bopp Oct. 24, 1914 1,320,465 Grabler Nov. 4, 1919 2,172,855 Siegert Sept. 12, 1939 2,240,079 Roth Apr. 29, 1941 2,262,823 Stearns Nov. 18, 1941 2,310,516 Clark Feb. 9, 1943 2,363,063 Hildebrecht Nov. 21, 1944 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 748,407 France July 4, 1933 

